While still in High School, the Harmony teens go adventuring in the woods near Harmony, whereupon Kay gets lost with only Reese for company--much to her dismay. Originally written in January 2002 and posted on the CR boards. KayReese

The usual disclaimers
apply. I am not affiliated with NBC or
with Passions. All characters and
concepts belong to NBC/Passions.

-------------------------------------

Lost

Kay Bennett squeezed
through the crack in the cave wall. She tried to remember whose stupid idea it
was to go out on this latest weekend adventure and explore the caves in the
hills above Harmony. It must have been Miguel's idea, or maybe Miguel agreed
almost immediately which was why she came. The melting snow was making a mess
of the forest floor, and Kay knew her socks were wet through to her feet. Each
step she made was accompanied by a dreadful squishing sound. Miguel, Jessica,
Charity and Simone had already made their way through. Just Reese was behind
her. Stupid Reese was waiting for "ladies first". Kay wanted to hurl.

"Kay," Reese
said from the crevice.

Kay ignored him,
stalking off after the rest of the teens. Night was falling, and they should
make their way back to Harmony soon.

"Kay!" Reese
yelled louder.

Kay
turned around.

"Help me, Kay,
I'm stuck."

Kay rolled her eyes.
Reese was indeed stuck in the crevice. For a gangly boy, he certainly filled
the gap. Kay shrugged, debating whether she should help him or not. If she left
him there, he wouldn't bother her. Yeah, her conscience reminded, but then Dad
would be angry and you'd be grounded.

Kay squished her way
back to the crevice. "What do you want me to do?" she asked.

Reese wiggled the arm
facing her. "Could you give me a pull?"

Sighing heavily, Kay
grabbed his arm and pulled.

"Aaaargh!"
Reese yelled. "Could you at least wait until I'm ready?"

Kay smothered an evil
smile. At last she had a way of revenge against his pesky interference in her
life. "You told me to pull," she said sullenly.

"On three,"
Reese said.

Kay grabbed his hand
again.

"One… Two…"
Reese counted, "Three!"

Kay pulled with all
her might. A dislocated shoulder would teach him for getting stuck in the middle
of nowhere.

"Aaaargh!"
Reese grunted, pushing from the other side.

"What now?"
Kay demanded.

"It hurts, ok?
But I think I moved a little. On three again. One… Two… Three!"

Kay pulled, Reese
pushed, his groan of pain mingling with the sound of tearing fabric, but Reese
tumbled on top of Kay as he burst free from the crevice. His glasses fell into
the mud, his face inches from Kay's. Reese looked like he died and went to
heaven, being so close to her.

Kay sighed and reached
for the mud-covered lenses. Her back was wet now too, and getting very cold and
squishy like her shoes. She handed Reese back his glasses. "Now look at
what you've done!" she yelled. Her new coat was ruined.

"Sorry,"
Reese said again, polishing his glasses on his shirt. Kay's clothes were wet.
Reese's coat was shredded. He sighed. It was an old coat anyway. "I
thought I'd fit through."

"Well, think
harder next time," Kay snapped, setting off in the direction where she saw
Miguel leave.

"Wait Kay!"
Reese called, half jogging to catch up with her. "Sure this is the way
back to Harmony?" he asked.

Kay fought the urge to
smack him around. "This is the way Miguel and everyone else went. See
their footprints?"

Reese took off his
glasses and polished them once more. He put them back on, but the sight was no
better. His lenses were scratched. He leaned closer to the ground until he
could see clearly.

Kay fought the urge to
shove his face in the mud. She was over the age of twelve, she reminded
herself. There were very few constants in Kay Bennett's life—especially
recently. She thought she'd always have
her parents' love to depend on, but that was gone. She thought she could depend
on her parents being together, but that wasn't always secure anymore. Not with
David Hastings and Ivy Crane wandering around waiting to cause havoc. At this
point in her life, Kay was reduced to two constants, loving Miguel and
torturing Reese. Kay could not remember a time when she wasn't picking on the
nerd. Always behind Miguel's back of course. Reese was Miguel's other best
friend so Kay had to be stealthy about it all. She admitted it. She was cruel. She remembered tripping him
on the bus their second day of Kindergarten. He would fall flat on his face,
and spill his crayons all over the floor. That game had amused Kay far into
November.

She tried to scare him
with bugs and worms, but that plan backfired. He liked those presents. Kay had
rolled her eyes and went back to playing kickball with Miguel. But Kickball
gave her another cruel idea. She knew she was good enough to kick the ball
wherever she wanted to. Poor Reese was at her mercy. The kid never knew what
was coming. Of course she apologized profusely with Miguel, but that did not
take the joy out of watching the breath leave Reese's body with a loud
"oof!" each time she landed the ball dead on target. She loved
teasing him with the line "anything boys can do, girls can do
better."

By the time they were
in high school, just as Miguel was working up the nerve to ask Kay out, her
entire world shifted. Charity came. Miguel was ever more distant, and Reese had
developed the insane crush on her. Wouldn't the boy learn? And then there was
that terrible mistake at Halloween that started Kay's string of terrible
mistakes. She was sure it was Miguel under that mask when she confessed her
love. She was sure of it! So why did it have to be Reese wearing the same
costume? And things took a turn for the worse since then. Reese foolishly
thought she was his girlfriend! Kay nearly laughed out loud.

"Kay?" Reese
asked. "Are we following the footprints still?"

Kay rolled her eyes.
"Of course we are." She looked down to confirm, and to her horror,
footprints had not squished the ground recently. Kay stopped dead in her
tracks. Reese ran into her from behind, almost toppling her face first into the
soggy ground.

"Why'd you
stop?" Reese asked.

"Shut up,"
Kay said. She wasn't in the mood to hear his nasally voice. She had to find
those footprints! She stepped around Reese and began following their trail
backwards. Maybe they could find where they got off of Miguel's trail in the
drizzle.

"Why're we
turning around?" Reese asked.

"I said, shut
up!" Kay snapped, fighting back the panic as her own footprints were being
swallowed in the fresh moisture. She dodged around trees, walking faster and
faster, trying to beat the rain.

"Kay! Wait!"
Reese called from behind her. She gritted her teeth and turned, drawing in a
deep breath to tell him off. Reese was holding onto a tree, his face ashen.
"Just let me…" he panted, "catch my breath…"

Kay rolled her eyes
and waited. And waited. A drip of rain fell on her cheek, cold and wet. How
utterly perfect, she thought miserably.
Reese hadn't moved.

"Could you not
breathe so loud?" she demanded. "I'm trying to concentrate!"

"All…
right…"

Kay found herself back
at the crevice they had vacated earlier.

"Kay?" Reese
asked weakly.

"What!" she
demanded.

"Can we stop for
a second?" He didn't wait for a reply. Instead he slumped to the ground.

"Reese,
please," Kay sneered. "We haven't walked all that far. Are you even
more of a wuss than I imagined?" She pushed a wet lock of hair out of her
eyes. The last thing she wanted was to be lost in the forest with only Reese
for company. If it was Miguel, she thought with a smile, it would be a
different story. But Reese was rapidly proving himself to be the biggest wuss
she ever knew. "Are you ready yet?" she asked impatiently.

Reese did not answer.

"Reese?" she
asked again, getting slightly worried. She turned and looked at him for the
first time. Reese did not look well. His head slumped on his chest and his
breathing was shallow and raspy. And then she saw his torn jacket and shirt.

"Oh My God!"
Kay screamed, "Reese, you're bleeding!"

"It's… not…
deep…" Reese panted back.

Kay rushed over to her
supposed-boyfriend. Blood was soaking through his jacket, his shirt already wet
and sticky. Tentatively, Kay opened his jacket and his flannel shirt, peeling
the flannel from the T-shirt beneath it. She tucked her hair behind her ears.
"Oh God," she whispered, "I wish I had paid more attention in
First Aid." She nervously rubbed her hands together. "Reese, you've
gotta help me," she said, slapping his face. "Reese, I don't know the
first thing about stopping bleeding, you've gotta help me!"

"Stop… hitting…
me!" Reese replied sullenly.

"Ok," Kay
said, sitting back on her heels. "What do I do first?"

"Umm…" Reese
thought, "I guess we should wash it and bandage it."

"Well, we don't
have to worry about water," Kay said, referring to the steady fall of
rain, wetting Reese's white T-shirt, rinsing the blood in pink rivulets.

Reese smiled and tried
to laugh, but it hurt too much. "You're going to have to take my shirt
off, Kay," Reese said gently.

Eww, Kay thought,
imagining his pasty-white flesh. "Umm…" she said aloud, alternating
touching the hem of his soaked shirt and wringing her hands.

When Reese caught his
breath, he mumbled, "I get the distinct impression that you enjoy causing
me pain."

Kay looked away,
suddenly ashamed.

"Ok," Reese
said, "we're going to need a bandage. Do you have anything dry?"

Kay rummaged through
her backpack, trying to avoid looking at Reese. "Nothing here," she
observed.

Reese thought for a
moment. "My backpack might still be in the cave," he said, thinking.

"Right," Kay
said, and ran off to the crevice, her actions spilling her bag across the
ground. She easily slipped through the crack in the cave wall, waiting for her
eyes to adjust to the darkness inside. She stumbled under something relatively
soft and let out a small scream. Then, as the insides of the cave faded into
focus, she saw that she had been frightened by none other than Reese's bag.
Giving herself a mental kick, she picked up the bag by its handle and slipped
back out.

Kay's breath caught in
her throat as she caught sight of Reese sitting propped up against the outside
wall of the cave. He was beautiful! Her eyes paused on his stomach, and the way
his muscles contracted to stay in the sitting position. They traveled upwards
to his pectorals and the series of gashes marring their masculine beauty.

"What's this
for?" Reese held up a small square plastic package.

"What?" Kay
asked, not really seeing the condom he held up, only seeing the way his chest
rose and fell with each breath.

"Well, I know
what it's for," Reese said with a leer. "But why did you bring one
along? Were you planning on seducing me?" he asked with a clumsy wink.

"No!" Kay
said immediately, her mind racing. "I-I was…" she began. "It's
just that… I don't know how it got in there!" she said finally, hating the
way Reese had found evidence of her plan to get Miguel alone in the cave.

"Sure,"
Reese said with a knowing nod, his eye's appraising Kay's body. "I'd love
to help you out, but I'm not quite in condition at the moment." He
coughed.

Kay was sure Reese
thought his grin was inviting, but it seemed merely goofy to her.
"Umm…" she began, her eyes once again drawn to his naked chest. He
really was a blond, she noted, the hair was so pale and light as to be
nonexistent. It certainly did nothing to hide… well… anything!

"Can I give you a
rain-check?" he asked with another suggestive leer.

"Umm…
thanks," Kay muttered, trying to absorb this unclothed Reese with what she
saw of unclothed Miguel. Miguel was what she wanted, right? And it didn't
matter how well, that six-pack looked on Reese. He was still a nerd, right? She
must be feeling pity for him because he was hurt.

Reese coughed again
and sniffled. The rain was getting to him. "First off, there should be a
folding umbrella tucked into the side. I can't believe I didn't remember
leaving my backpack in the cave when we first got back here!" Kay rummaged
in Reese's bag, producing the umbrella. She opened it and held it above both
their heads. They had to get awkwardly close to both fit under the umbrella.
Reese took it from her hand and held it high. "Ok, there should be a small
first-aid kit. There should be some gauze in it."

"First-aid
kit," Kay said to herself, looking in it until she found the right object.
"Gauze," she said, snapping the kit open and finding the neatly
packaged sterile gauze-packs. "Right," Kay said, holding them out.

"You're going to
have to apply them," Reese prompted.

"Right." Kay
replied. Ripping open one of the squares of gauze, she placed it on his chest.
God he was built, all that hard masculinity hidden under that geeky exterior.
Like Clark Kent and Superman, a little voice reminded Kay.

"You've got to
tape it on," Reese said. "There's some bandage tape in the first-aid
kit."

"Right." Kay
said again, feeling quite foolish. Reese never made her feel foolish—except
when she got caught with him when she thought he was Miguel. Then she felt
foolish. But Reese on his own? Reese only made her angry, not an idiot.
"Won't this hurt when it comes off?" she asked.

"Probably,"
Reese said.

Slowly, Kay attached
the gauze to Reese's wounds and buttoned back up his tattered flannel and coat.
Weary, Kay slumped down next to him, mostly to stay out of the rain.

"Do you think
they're looking for us?" Kay asked.

Reese shrugged.
"I couldn't imagine a better person to get lost with."

Kay nearly lost her
lunch. She could easily imagine a thousand people she'd rather be lost with.
The rain poured down as she sat next to Reese, waiting for rescue. The drops
pattered on the top of the umbrella while Kay and Reese waited in silence,
their butts getting numb from the rocks, but when compared to other options, a
numb rear wasn't that bad.

"I think they're
slowing down!" Kay said suddenly, eager to get away from the stifling
inactivity. "I have an idea to find Harmony."

"Kay, wait!"
Reese said. "I'll just use the GPS on my handheld and then use the
coordinates from here as opposed to the coordinates of my house and we'll
figure out a way back.

"Sure," Kay
said, but she headed towards a tall tree anyway. She hadn't climbed a tree in a
while, but she still remembered how. Her days as a tomboy were not that long
ago. Jumping to grab a mostly horizontal branch, Kay swung up into the tree. It
was a bit slippery, and her foot caught once, but she soon found her rhythm.
Once of the ground, Kay soon saw the lights of Harmony twinkling in the evening
glow. Happily, she looked down to mark the direction against Reese and quickly,
she climbed down, dropping the last few feet.

"I found
it!" Reese said.

"Harmony's that
way!" they both said together, pointing in opposite directions.

"Reese, you're
pointing inland," Kay argued.

"Am not!" he
countered. "I know exactly where we are!"

"I saw the
ocean," Kay said. "I know it's that way!"

"Impossible,"
Reese said stiffly.

"Whatever,"
she replied. "But I'm going home now." She began gathering her things
back into her bag.

"Help me up! I
won't let you go off alone. You need protection."

Kay laughed.

"Help me
up!" Reese insisted.

Kay sighed and gave
him her hand. Seeing him waver on his feet, Kay put her shoulder under one of
his arms. They began walking slowly in the direction Kay chose. When they saw
several familiar figures approaching them, Kay couldn't resist taunting him
with a, "told you so!"

"Over here!"
Kay yelled, waving her free arm. She gladly handed Reese off to her Uncle Hank
as the rescuers picked their way. "Be careful with him," Kay said.
"He has a nasty gash."

"Kay saved my
life," Reese told everyone proudly.

Kay noticed he
refrained from mentioning that it was she who had probably endangered it in the
first place.

"She's a
hero!" Reese continued.

Kay shoved her hands
in her pockets as her father and Miguel patted her on the back. If this was how
Reese wanted it, who was she to protest? "Yeah… well," she said,
toeing the ground with false humility.

~finis~

The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.